International Business Case Analysis

Many U.S. companies are doing business internationally, but many complex situations can arise. Having an understanding of cultural differences in the workplace becomes important, and to understand these differences, people need to know and understand a culture’s ecological correlations, or in other words, the concepts that describe a culture (Brislin, P. 278). In reading the case “Negotiations – BWA Discovers the Indonesian Way” in Understanding and Managing Diversity, many cultural issues had come into play with the negotiations between the United States and Indonesian firm. Even though Jake Campbell, who is a U.S. project manager for BWA, has experience in managing other projects similar to the size and complexity of the National Electric Company in Indonesia project, this was his first international assignment. In preparing for his assignment, Jared talked with other experienced BWA project managers who had already completed complex foreign assignments like his NEC project. He learned that delays were common, particularly in obtaining payments and communication could be problematic (Harvey, et. al., P. 99). Jake does think he can resolve these issues with frequent progress meetings and good record keeping. This is the first issue I discovered in analyzing this case. Even though Jake did go to his other colleagues for their opinions with international dealings, he should have done more research about how businesses in Indonesia conduct business.
When Jared sat with the National Electric Company in Indonesia and also with their engineering firm MEC, he raised the issue of the delay and the costs it would create. The NEC engineers seemed surprised and uncomfortable at this mention and along with this they did not ask any questions, not even what the costs would be. They told Jared that projects have delays and their company should have expected and considered them. They moved on to other topics and Jared decided not to press the issue further

References: Brislin, Richard. Understanding Culture’s Influence on Behavior, Second Edition. Cengage Learning. (2000) : 278-321. Harvey, Carol P. and M. June Allard. “Negotiations – BWA Discovers the Indonesian Way”. Understanding and Managing Diversity, Fourth Edition: Reading, Cases and Exercises. Pearson Education, Inc. (2009) : 99-103. Whitfield III, George. “Your Guide to Indonesia”. Executiveplanet.com. 1 February 2011. Web. 26 February 2011. <http://www.executiveplanet.com/index.php?title=Indonesia>